As the days grow shorter and the leaves start to fall, Samuel Adams has released their latest variety pack, the Harvest Collection Variety Pack, just in time for the season. As they usually do, they have replaced one beer style, the dunkelweizen, with another German style, the rauchbier, which is a beer that uses smoked malt to lend a smoky flavor to the beer (it goes great with grilling). I’m very interested in Samuel Adams’ take on the style.

After sampling New Belgium’s Super Cru, I decided to try New Belgium‘s ode to another one of their original beers, the Abbey Ale, in the form of a Grand Cru Abbey Ale. This tribute has more malt, to increase the strength, but the additional sugars keep the body low.

The beer had a nice sweet aroma. In the taste, there were some plum and fig flavors with the aftertaste having hints of plums and raisins. There was a little bit of alcohol warming in the finish, but overall was a nice light finish. It was a nice strong abbey ale, and a good tribute to the Abbey Ale.